Francisco Porcella recounts events from a gnarly session at Nazaré

When Francisco Porcella and big wave partner Axi Muniain hit the lineup at Nazaré on 22nd of December they had no idea what the Portugese monster had in store for them.

It all started well when Francisco scored the first wave of the day and rode it successfully. Things would soon change when on his next attempt, Francisco got caught up and freefell into oblivion.

The wipeout left him coughing blood and ended his session, but the drama had just begun. Francisco took over ski duties from Axi, who hit the lineup to get a wave of his own. Axi too then suffered a horrendous wipeout, rendering him barely conscious.

Franciso swooped in on the ski to rescue his friend but the two were clipped by a wave and left in the soup, the ski pushed into the rocks. Once Axi was safely in, Francisco set off to retrieve the ski from the notorious cave at the base of the cliff.